OGDEN — As a youth, Jerry Bovee was taken to many Weber State football and basketball games by his parents. He would run around campus, never dreaming that some day he'd have something to do with Wildcat athletics.

Imagine how he now feels as the person in charge of Weber State athletics. Bovee, 42, was named Weber State's athletics director on Thursday, after he had been serving in an interim role the past eight weeks. Bovee replaces Jerry Graybeal, who resigned to take another position in the athletic department in September.

"I spent many a day as a kid running through campus," said Bovee, who grew up in Ogden and attended Ben Lomond High. "It's a dream come true getting my first taste of collegiate athletics in my hometown."

Bovee has already gotten a taste of what it's like to be a collegiate athletics director. He has helped work on future football schedules, met with coaches and staff members and shaken hands with countless people while hosting football games at Stewart Stadium. Now, he plans on building the momentum that Graybeal started as athletics director and working to change things that need to be corrected, he said.

"I'm excited, happy and ready to jump in with both feet," Bovee said. "The football team is very successful. The winter sports are about to get started, and I anticipate they'll be successful. It's a good time to step into a position like this."

Bovee got his first job at a university working in Utah State's marketing department in 1992. After three years there, he left for the Utah High School Activities Association, where he served as an assistant director for 10 years. He then took a job at Weber State as the school's assistant vice president for administrative support services, a position he held for two years before becoming the interim athletics director.

Bovee said he's thought about being an athletics director since he worked at Utah State and admits he has taken an unconventional route in getting his dream job.

"I've always dreamed of being an athletics director," Bovee said. "Having the challenge of being an athletics director has always been a career goal. It certainly wasn't expected, but I'm excited for the opportunity."

The Wildcats are also happy to have him.

"Jerry Bovee will be a terrific athletic director for Weber State," said Norm Tarbox, the vice-president for administrative support services at Weber State. "He knows the business, he has the trust of the university community and has boundless energy. He will be able to quickly build on the solid foundation put in place by Jerry Graybeal."

After spending all day Thursday in his official new position, Bovee will travel to Montana for Weber State's Big Sky football showdown with the Grizzlies.

"My first order of business is to step into the lions' den, or in this case, the Grizzlies' den," Bovee said.

e-mail: aaragon@desnews.com